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Rob Smith, 42, claims he has been waiting two years for repairs to the council-owned, ground-floor apartment at Charlesworth Court in Mansfield Woodhouse.

"It has been an absolute nightmare,” said Rob. “I am on medication and receiving therapy because of all the stress and anxiety.

"Things are so bad that I can’t sleep there any longer. I have to go up to my dad’s house in Doncaster at night.”

The cracks that have appeared in the ceiling of Rob Smith's flat at Charlesworth Court in Mansfield Woodhouse. He believes they have been caused by subsidence.

The saga started when Rob moved from Newark into the flat in October 2020 to be closer to most of his family.

He is in constant pain and hasn’t worked since an accident in which he sustained a compound fracture of his right leg and two slipped discs in his back.

Rob said: "The flat was full of mould, which the council said would be sorted in two weeks. But this never happened.

"After six months of trying countless times to get them to come out, I’d had enough and contacted a solicitor, Bond Turner in Liverpool."

Some of the black mould that Rob says has plagued his flat since he moved in two years ago.

Through Bond Turner, an independent surveyor’s report was commissioned, identifying areas of concern, such as mould, damp, defective windows and structural cracks in walls and ceilings.

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“Plaster falls from the ceiling and it's genuinely frightening," said Rob. "There are also large, diagonal cracks on the outside of the building, yet the council has done nothing.

"Ninety per cent of the people who live in these flats are vulnerable. But I have worked in the building trade for most of my life, and I know when I am being fobbed off.”

Rob claims the council paid him £1,000 compensation in an out-of-court settlement earlier this year and promised repairs. But he is still waiting for the work to be done, so court papers have now been served.

An independent surveyor for the council believes many of the problems in the flat are not as serious as alleged.

In a report, he said: “The flat resembles a building site as the tenant is doing improvements in all rooms.”

A council spokesman said this week: “We are aware of this matter, which is with our legal team. As the tenant has started legal proceedings, we are unable to comment further."

Tenant takes council to court over the state of his Mansfield Woodhouse flat